5 Stages of Jack
by iwantlunch
Summary: The lifeboat, a lonely place without him, became the only spot where she allowed her mind to drift back and reflect on the past few days. It was then that she realized for a simple man, Jack can be complicated.


**5 Stages of Jack**

**Stage 1: Shock**

Her body felt cold but her mind became too busy debating with itself for her to even care anymore. She had finally found the only escape to get out of the tortuous life she lived. Yet here she stood, leaning over the edge of the boat and able to give everything up but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

_Coward_. Her chance of escape and she couldn't do it. She knew that once she had settled down to bed, she'd regret not jumping. She leaned forward even more but her stupid, pale, boney fingers wouldn't let go. She was such a coward!

Startled did not even begin to express how she felt when a man spoke from behind her. She had almost let go in fright! And the man had wanted to stop her, such a great way of doing so. Another thing that came to her mind was how he thought he should tell her what to do. Absolutely downright absurd! She didn't like it when Cal had ordered her around and she would not let a complete stranger do it!

She pauses for a mere second when she sees him. She could have sworn he was an angel if he wasn't dressed in the third class attire. His face was absolutely gorgeous, breathtaking and she knew at that moment that it would forever be burned into her mind.

Good Lord, he was distracting her! And the man kept trying to tell her what to do. Because of him she would have be found like this, ready to jump to her death, and be dragged right back to her stateroom with Cal. She wanted to shiver at the thought of the disgusting bastard. He made the lowest of the lows look like saints.

Shock had set in the moment he revealed that he couldn't leave because he was "involved now". In her short life, Rose had never met anyone like quite like the man that stood before her and immediately she became intrigued by him. She wanted, no, _needed_ to know him. She could care less at the moment what Cal, Lovejoy, or her mother would say about this. The only thing that consumed her mind was him.

Wisconsin? What in the world would make him bring up Wisconsin? Of course she knew where Wisconsin was and what ice fishing was, her grandfather had brought her ice fishing in upstate New York while her parents were in England for holiday. She was no idiot.

He talked to her about how cold the water would be yet her mind struggled to stay on topic. Here stood a third class man, talking to her, a first class mannered woman, as if they were equals! Her father would rant about how much better the people of first class were than those of lower classes though Rose had tuned him out long before he died. The thought made no sense to her, money, a greedy desire of nearly every man, had become the deciding factor in social status. To her, that was barbaric.

Besides, first class life seemed to be like a corset, tight and restricting with barely any breathing room just to show off the best of what you have. It made no sense to her.

"You're crazy," became the only thing she could think of. It got into their conversation quicker than she could blink. Her mind ran through possible scenarios of what he would do in response. Would her push her off to be done with her? Instantly she had somehow known that he did not seem like that type of man.

"That's what everybody says but, with all due respect, Miss, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship here." He did have a point. He had many things that the men she had met before did not, a sense of humor another thing. A real smile, not the fake China doll one that she gave everyone else, had found its way upon her face as they exchanged names. This man, the one that had shocked her like no other before, had left an imprint on her and she knew that she would not forget this man, even if they never met again.

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><p><strong>Eh, not my best work but it's the beginning. I'll update soon! :)<strong>


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